


A Second Chance at Love

by Havendance



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: (which tends to be more hatred inducing), Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Celes Centric, F/M, I should've added that tag sooner if I'm being completely honest, Kefka typical violence, Locke Centric, Soulmate AU, Theivery, Treason, and other crimes, honor against the odds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21527377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havendance/pseuds/Havendance
Summary: Celes is certain that Kefka is her soulmate, until she's not. Locke is certain that he and Rachel will get married one day, until they don't. Neither of them is certain of what to make of each other, until they do.(AU where your soulmate's name is written on one wrist and your worst enemy's is written on the other.)
Relationships: (past and implied), (past), Celes Chere/Kefka Palazzo, Celes Chere/Locke Cole, Locke Cole/Rachel
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	1. I. Celes

**Author's Note:**

> AU where your soulmate's name is written on one wrist and your worst enemy's is written on the other.
> 
> Apparently, I can't just write a quick soulmate AU, but I love these guys too much to cut this short, so here you go.  
> (I'm sorry, but they don't meet next chapter either.)

For the longest time, Celes thought that Kefka must be her soulmate. It wasn’t a thought that she particularly savored—he was about fifteen years older than her and, if she was being completely honest, a bit of a prick—but it made more sense than the alternative. So, for most of her life, she shoved Kefka in the mental drawer of Soulmate and ‘Locke’ in the mental pocket of Archenemy. She watched him from behind curtains or statues as he swaggered through the halls. He never gave any sign that he had her name but, then again, he probably wasn’t even aware that she existed.

They were both raised to serve the empire, both rescued from poverty and filth in the streets of Vector and gifted education and a future by Emperor Gestahl. They were both unwaveringly loyal to the empire, but that was about all they had in common. Kefka had been full of potential with a sharp mind and relentless ambition. It was no surprise that he was chosen to become the first magitek knight. Celes was unremarkable in comparison. She was loyal but average and had a greater aptitude for her drills than her lessons. 

* * *

Celes could remember somewhat was Kefka was like before the magic was welded into his body. He was the success story that her teachers told her about. He was proof that the scum of society had potential beyond begging for breakfast. He occasionally would walk into the classrooms like he owned the place and all the students would look at him in awe. They had heard the stories. He was just a foundling like them, but he had worked his way up to the high ranks of the empire.

She spoke to him once, when she was ten. He had offered her a few pointers on her stance. He was full of himself but seemed almost ordinary. Celes had poured over every word he had said to her over and over again in the weeks that followed. 

* * *

Celes was eleven when Kefka had been chosen to be the first of a new kind of soldier for the empire. She remembered Cid’s excitement at finally getting a chance to try out his research. She remembered the tension that had crept into every corner in the compound that day and lessons being called short because the teachers were the anticipation in the air just as keenly as everyone else.

Kefka came back from the procedure cracked. His pale skin had been bleached to a bone-white shade. His red hair had faded to a pale shade of blond. He laughed like a broken record and entertained ideas that no sane man would. But he could use magic and he was loyal to Emperor Gestahl and that was enough for him to be placed securely at the top of the empire’s hierarchy.

Most people avoided him. Celes avoided him, not that she interacted with him much in the first place. If he was her soulmate, (it was still the only sane explanation, they were both for the Empire, how could she go against someone who fought under the same banner?) it must have been the version of Kefka before he’d had magic spliced into his genes.

* * *

Years passed before the procedure was attempted again. Kefka was effective but insane. His benefit to the empire was questionable, not that anyone questioned him to his face. Celes was fifteen when Cid told her that she had been chosen to become magitek knight number two. He told her that the process had greatly improved since Kefka had undergone it. Cid was like a father to her. She trusted him and ignored the fear creeping in at the edge of her mind.

The last thing she saw before going under was the esper whose power they were going to take. It looked like a little fairy, huddled in the center of a red tube. Its skin was crystal and it’s wings, ice. There was frost on the edges of the tube and a chill in the air. Celes felt a pang of pity but pushed it deep down. It was her duty to serve Emperor Gestahl. If he wanted her to become his weapon, she would do so.

She woke up from the procedure with the color sucked out of her: blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin. There was an undercurrent of power pulsing through her veins and her skin was perpetually cool to the touch but she didn’t feel too different. She didn’t feel mad like Kefka.

Celes lay in recovery, feel the magic under her skin. If she focused it correctly, ice would form in the air around her fingertips. The Emperor praised her personally, promoting her to the new rank of Rune Knight. She was one of his trusted generals. She swore her undying loyalty to him before all the armies of the Empire, claiming that she would die before forsaking the Empire. She could still remember the crowd's cheers. On that day, she’d felt like she’d found her purpose. She was where she was meant to be.

* * *

Mastering her new magical powers took time. At first, Celes would practice on her own, trying to figure out techniques and abilities in the training yard while foot soldiers watched on in awe and fear. Occasionally Kefka would come and watch, saying nothing at first. After a while, he would occasionally comment on her form or technique, offering advice and showing ways she could channel her power. All his advice sounded unhinged but it worked so she listened despite chill he sent up her spine.

Cid dropped hints that the Emperor would look kindly upon their blossoming relationship. It was the closest to a direct order that she got regarding Kefka.

* * *

They were sent out on missions together. At first, because she was new and it was important that she didn’t mess up. Later, because it was a show of force to use the lost art of magic to destroy the towns of anyone who resisted the empire.

Celes didn’t begin to have doubts about Kefka and her place in the empire until she learned what he had written upon his wrists. Names weren’t really something you shared, but they were alone and Kefka didn’t care what she saw of him. She didn’t care what he saw of her either. Nobody was going to bother them. And he was her soulmate after all, wasn’t he?

On his right wrist was a name written in a script she didn’t recognize; on his left, his own. He gave his unnatural broken record laugh when he saw his name on her wrist, teasing her about unrequited love and how he didn’t like the sound of that “Locke’ fellow on the other side.

Celes laughed along. What else was she supposed to do? But his comments bothered her. She grabbed her cape and left as soon as she could after that. She wasn’t sure why. Wasn’t he just stating what she had thought to herself so many times before? Celes tried not to think about it too much.

* * *

Emperor Ghestal sent the two of them to remind the town of Albrook just who was in charge. It didn’t take much for the town to surrender. They were up against some of the most terrifying weapons that the Empire had. When the sniveling mess of a mayor came out to surrender, Kefka burnt him alive with a single spell. Celes felt her stomach churn at the acrid smell of burning flesh. The vice mayor met the same unpleasant fate. All the while, Kefka cackled saying that traitors would burn. 

The scene gave Celes nightmares for months afterward. Privately, she wondered if it had truly been necessary but she kept her doubts to herself. There were people you just didn’t cross and Kefka was one of them.

Another time, the town they were sent to subdue didn’t even have an army to defend it. They surrendered without much of a fight. They just wanted to live their lives.

“Destroy it,” Kefka ordered as they both stood at the crest of a hill overlooking the town. It was a tiny place, less than a dozen buildings huddled together around a well and crossroads.

“Why should I do that?” Celes asked. “They’ve submitted to the Empire.”

“Uwee-hee-hee,” Kefka gave the broken record laugh, the one that always sent shivers down her spine. “They resisted. That’s enough to ensure their destruction. Examples must be made.” The grin he gave made her want to gag.

“No,” This was not the way to fight a war.

He nodded at first before stopping mid-nod. He blinked at her a few times much too slow to be natural. “Was that a no I heard?”

“There’s no reason to do so,” Celes said.

“You don’t say no to a commanding officer, Celes, dear. That’s grounds for treason, dear. Now, go burn down the city like a good girl.” He turned around with a flounce and a flick of his cape. “Let me know when you're done.”

Celes watched him leave with her stomach twisting into knots and her heart torn between the insanity of what she was being told to do and her loyalty to the empire.

In the end, she burned just enough buildings to make it look like she had tried and only after warning the people inside them to get out. Kefka proclaimed her work good enough for a beginner before turning up his nose at the whole thing and flouncing out of town.

When they marched out after leaving behind enough imperial soldiers to make sure that the town remembered whose control they were under, Kefka stopped everything when they had only gone a short distance away. Then, he cast a single spell and all that remained of the town was scorched and cracked earth.

“What was that for?” Celes asked, barely able to contain her shock.

“They were just asking for it,” he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“There were some of our soldiers there too. You killed them too.”

Kefka just shrugged. “What’s an omelet without a few eggs completely destroyed?” He left before she could ask anything else.

She tried to avoid him as much as she could after that. 

* * *

Celes began to think that maybe Kefka was her archenemy. He was a madman. Maybe it was her mission to oppose him and his insanity, to maintain the honor of the empire.

She told this to General Leo one night when they were sent on a campaign together, leaving out the part about Kefka’s name on her wrist. That was personal.

He nodded thoughtfully. “Men like Kefka are the exception,” he said. “Madness is less contagious than honor. I fight with honor and drive others to fight with honor as well. Men like Kefka find themselves limited when surrounded by those with more sense.”

“I see,” Celes said, staring up at the stars. “I think I will strive to do that.”

“Madness will never win the hearts of men,” General Leo said.

They sat out there a little longer, talking under the stars. Celes wanted to know him more. He was a far cry from Kefka. But he didn’t see her as anything beyond a comrade at arms. That was the last time they were deployed together anyways. The Emperor had other plans for her after that.

* * *

She was sent to place after place across the Empire and beyond, subduing some places, reminding others of their place, in still other places, she was a diplomat, wooing nobles, including a certain lecherous king, an ally the empire wanted to keep. She remembered her conversation with General Leo and did things with honor. 

There were orders she didn’t quite agree with, things she was told that didn’t sit well with her stomach. Celes followed those in her own way, never quite disobeying them but never following them through completely either.

It was at a village hidden deep within the deserts of Figaro that things began to fall apart. The mission itself was simple: the village was a suspected base of the returners, Celes was to lead her men there and destroy it. When she got there, the place was like most of the villages on the continent: filled with the elderly, women, and children, not a man in sight. It was quickly taken under imperial control and searched. There were no signs of returner activity anywhere.

She took what she needed for her men, arranged for a few imperial soldiers to stay and keep an eye on the place, and prepared to set out again when none other than Kefka himself showed up.

“What are you doing here?” Celes asked after he’d pushed his way past the perimeter of their encampment and barged into her tent. “There’s no need for you here.”

“Uwee-hee-hee,” his laugh sent chills down her spine, the same as it always did. “There is a reason for me to be here. The Emperor sent me personally in fact. His orders.” He handed her an envelope sealed with the Emperor’s seal with a mock bow that managed to convey nothing but complete scorn.

She took it, holding it like it was covered in poison. For all she knew, it probably was. “But why send you? Surely, there are more important things for a man of your rank to do?”

“You’re not glad to see me? There used to be a time when you were.” He gave what might have been meant to be puppy dog eyes but came off more unnerving than anything else. When Celes just stared at him, stone-faced, he stopped. “As it happens, I’m here to make sure that the orders are followed. There have been a few… questions about your performance.”

Celes opened the envelope. “I’m sure there will be no problems.” She drew out the letter and, as she read the brief message, her stomach began to churn. The orders were to destroy the village and everyone in it.

“What’s in it?” Kefka asked in a way that sounded far from sincere.

Celes refolded the envelope and kept her face impassive. “It's just orders to return to Vector.”

He grinned cruelly. “You’re lying. What does it really say?” He reached out and tried to grab the paper from her hands. She pulled it out of his reach.

“I told you what it said.”

“I was there when it was written,” he hissed. I know what you’re supposed to do.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Apparently, you lack the loyalty to do it.”

“If you know what the orders are, you know that there’s no point in carrying them out,” Celes snapped. “Look around. There are no returners here. Why kill innocents?”

Kefka sneered. “Celes, dear, those people could become returners at any time. Better to destroy them now than to have them stab us in the back later.”

“I will not do it.” Celes felt the air around her heat up. Across from her, Kefka was making the familiar gesture of a Firaga spell.

“I don’t think you understand, dear. You aren’t in a good position right now,” he said. 

The air grew hotter around her.

“The choices you’re making are starting to look an awful lot like treason,” Kefka continued.

“This isn’t the way I do things,” Celes said, starting to slowly ease herself into her runic guard position.

“So you’re a traitor then?” Kefka’s voice was filled with sadistic glee.

“Maybe.” How was she supposed to answer that question?

Silence hung between them for a split second.

“Then die.” Kefka cast his spell and started to laugh his broken record laugh. 

Celes drew her blade and drew the magic into her just in time to avoid being burnt to a crisp.

Kefka looked confused for a split second before his evil grin reappeared. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t go down so easily. It won’t do you any good.” He raised his voice. “Guards!”

About half a dozen guards in Kefka’s colors rushed into the tent. 

“Arrest General Celes for treason against the empire,” Kefka ordered. If his soldiers were surprised at the order, they didn’t show it. They had probably been under his command long enough to know that questioning would get you nowhere except maybe an early grave.

Celes didn’t resist much as they roughly restrained her and led her out of the tent. She knew when she was outnumbered and Kefka was never a man you wanted to annoy any more than you could avoid.

It was then that she decided once and for all that Kefka was most definitely not, under any circumstances, her soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kefka's a bastard and I hate him, but he's fun to write so...
> 
> Next up, we meet Locke and his soulmate!


	2. II. Locke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet Locke.

Locke didn’t pay much attention to the names on his wrists. He never really felt like he had to. He knew that Rachel was his soulmate and Kefka, whoever they were, was his enemy.

It felt like something he’d known forever. Rachel had his name and Locke had hers. Names weren’t really something you talked about, but in a village like Kohlingen, people talked and everyone knew that he and Rachel had each other's names before they’d even learned to walk.

It felt like he’d loved her forever. First was the love of friendship which blossomed into something more. He was a treasure hunter because that’s what she called him. He went out and found things because he knew that she would like them. Sure, maybe the things he found for her weren’t always up for grabs in the traditional sense, but when did that stop anyone? He felt like he could spend all his life with her and never grow tired of it. This is what having a soulmate must feel like, he thought.

* * *

And then everything fell apart. Why did things have to fall apart? Locke was going to propose. He had it all planned out. He’d found a ring that she’d absolutely love and hid it in Mt. Kolts. Not too far in, but deep enough that they could go searching for it together. It would be an adventure and Rachel loved adventures. But then there was the cave-in and Rachel… Rachel didn’t remember anything. She didn’t remember him and that was what hurt the most.

Locke had wanted so much for her to be okay. He was so happy when she woke up. He hadn’t left her bedside for the entire week she spent in a coma while the old herbalist tottered in and out with various foul-smelling potions and poultices.

He had nearly fallen asleep when she sat up. But when Rachel put a hand to her head and groaned, the noise jolted Locke like a bolt of lighting. “Rachel?” he asked.

She looked around, dazed. “Who… who are you?” Her words were slow and hesitant like she barely remembered how a sentence was formed.

“It’s me, Locke.” He stood up and reached for her hand. “Don’t you remember?”

Rachel snatched her hand away. “I- I don’t know you. What are you doing in my room?” Her voice was growing higher and more anxious with each word.

Locke scanned her face. There was no recognition there. What had the accident done to her? “I’m your soulmate,” he pleaded, showing her the name on his wrist.

Seeing the name only made her look more uncomfortable. “I- I don’t know. I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, just leave.”

So Locke did. What else was he supposed to do for his love? He checked back every day hoping that she would remember him, remember what they had been, until, at last, her parents told him that it wasn’t any use. They ordered him not to come back. It was better to forget about it than try and reopen old wounds.

He left Kohlingen. What else was he supposed to do? He didn’t want to hurt her. He’d never realized that having a soulmate could hurt so much.

* * *

He roamed the world looking for something, anything that could help Rachel recover her memory. Outside of Kohlingen’s peaceful walls, the Empire had sunk its claws into nearly everything and Locke learned just who the other name on his wrist belonged to. Kefka was a name spoken in poisonous tones among both Empire and free alike. The emperor’s chancellor was a hated man. A hated man who was apparently his worst enemy. Locke had no idea how that worked.

It was during these wanderings that he first met up with the returners. He was chasing a rumor of a wonderful cure-all. They were too and so was the empire. Locke had decided that he’d rather throw his lot as far away from the empire as he could. The rumor turned out to be nothing more than just that, a rumor, but the men he’d worked with were decent enough so he’d gone along with them.

If Kefka was meant to be his enemy he might at least oppose the man by whatever means he could.

* * *

It was a year before Locke worked up the courage to return to Kohlingen. He told himself that he was looking for adventure, for a cure, for something to help. Part of him hoped that time would heal Rachel’s wounds. The other called that part crazy. But he couldn’t stay away forever, not with her name on his wrist as a reminder of everything he had left behind. It was calling him back, so he had listened.

When he finally returned, Rachel was dead. He was just a few days too late. Her body was lying out in preparation for the funeral. She had remembered him in her last moments. Her last word was his name.

That was when Locke decided that Fate must have something out for him. He stole Rachel’s body. Maybe he was a thief after all. There wasn’t much he could do but hope and hoping had always been one of his talents. Hope and desperation were what led him to the mad old herbalist’s hut at the edge of town begging for something, anything that could help.

The old man had tottered about and finally forced a concoction of something down her throat, her ears, and down other bodily holes you didn’t talk about in polite company. He’d rubbed it on her eyes and all over her skin. When he was done, if you didn’t look too closely, you could almost see a flutter in her eyelids, almost hear the beat of her heart, almost feel the warmth of life in her skin. It was the picture of someone barely dead. 

It would have to be enough.

Locke ensured that her body was laid out in state in the old man’s basement before leaving town again. This time for good, at least, that’s what he told himself. Nothing remained for him there besides ghosts and bittersweet memories.

* * *

The empire had killed her. Locke had hated Kefka before, but that was in an abstract sense. Now, his hatred was personal and fueled by cold passion. Kefka represented the empire that had taken his love from him. They had stolen the one thing that had mattered most to him and he was going to destroy them for it.

He went back to the returners and they sent him everywhere. There was plenty to do for a man of his talents: infiltrate a base, steal some information, plant enough evidence to get a certain imperial arrested as a spy, and, in one particularly foolhardy mission, sneak into the outskirts of Vector. He took risks that he never would have taken before. Before, he had Rachel to think about. Now, there wasn’t anything to hold him back.

There was no time for him to think. No time to consider the choice he’d made before leaving. No time to hope for the legendary power to bring back the dead. He was thankful for that.

* * *

Locke had stolen many things in his career: gold, jewels, weapons, secrets. In other words, normal things. This was the first time he’d been asked to steal a girl. She was a magitek knight, apparently, one that didn’t seem to have a very strong grasp on her own free will. Hed heard that she was young, but it still shocked him to see that it was a girl wearing the empire’s colors. She’d been forced into war and that was something he couldn’t stand for. 

It was simple enough to bring her to Edgar in Figaro and, from there, bring her to the returner base. They had to go through Mt Kolts to get there. Locke hated the place, but it was the quickest way. He couldn’t take the roundabout path he’d taken to get to Narshe, not with Terra’s abilities threatening their secrecy.

“What’s over there?” Terra asked when they’d been walking through the cave for a while.

Locke looked. She was pointing at a vaguely familiar corner where something was glinting in a stray beam of light. “I don’t know,” he said.

Terra went over and picked it up. “It’s a ring,” she said, examining it closely. “See?” She offered it to Locke.

He took it and recognized it nearly immediately. It was the ring he’d planned to give to Rachel. He nodded and handed it back. “Keep it,” he said. Rachel wasn’t going to wear it. “Maybe it’s lucky.” It certainly hadn’t been lucky for him. 

Terra smiled and put it on. “I think I will. Does it do anything?”

Locke shook his head. “It’s just meant to be pretty.”

Terra nodded slowly and stared at it on her finger.

“Let’s get going,” Locke said. He started to walk off with Terra trailing behind him. He wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. There was nothing good here. Nothing but the cruelty of fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is currently looking to be the shortest chapter in this story.  
>  Also, in case you were worried, I promise that they actually meet next chapter.


	3. III. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they trust each other, strangely enough.

For a thief, sneaking out is just as important as sneaking in, more even. It’s a lot easier to talk your way out of a situation if you’re caught sneaking in. If you’re caught on the way out though, the crime’s already been committed and the people who’ve caught you tend to be a whole lot angrier and a lot harder to convince.

It was because of that that Locke stopped and hid, pressing himself into an empty doorway, when he heard voices as he was slipping through the tunnels that led out of Southern Figaro. He stopped to listen. The voices were coming from behind one of the doors, not the one he was in front of but one a little farther ahead. He’d assumed they were storerooms, but as he listened closer he began to realize that at least one of them was being used as a cell.

He crept a little closer. He could hear thwaks and jeers and the small sound of someone in pain. There were words too, he couldn’t make out most of them, not from where he was, but one was repeated again and again: ‘traitor’. Locke ducked out of sight just in time as the pair of soldiers left, their ugly laughs echoing down the hallway. He snatched the ring of keys from the belt of the bigger one as they passed him. An enemy of the empire was a friend of his.

Once the hall was clear, Locke peaked through the bars on the door. Inside was a young woman chained to the wall. Cuts and dark bruises stood out on her pale skin. That wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was her face - it was none other than General Celes. This was a stupid idea. She was a high ranking imperial, the smart thing to do would be to leave her alone. Locke rarely did the smart thing though and his gut was telling him to help her. So he did.

He opened the door on the first try. Thieves tend to have an affinity for locks. 

The woman looked up as he slipped in. “Who are you?” She asked hesitantly.

“I’m with the returners,” Locke said, crossing the room in a few strides. “I’m here to get you out of here.” He knelt down and tried to open the chains around her wrists. None of the keys would work. Just his luck.

“Why would you do that?” She asked as Locke got out his tools and started to poke around in the locks. “I am- was loyal to the empire,” she said softly. “Let me face my death with dignity.”

Locke shook his head “No, I’m not about to do that.” The first shackle came off. He moved on to the next one.  
“But why would you help me?” Celes pressed.

Because he couldn't just let someone come to harm if there was something he could do about it. Because he saw Rachel everywhere, and with her, reminders of how he'd failed to keep her safe. "Because I want to. What does it matter anyway?" The second shackle popped off.

Celes sat there, rubbing at her wrists and just staring at him. He caught a flash of writing on one of them, but couldn’t make out what it said. She tore off a couple of strips of cloth from her cape and wrapped them around her wrists. Locke looked away while she did it. It wasn’t polite to pry.

"My name's Locke," he said, offering his hand to her after she'd finished. 

She looked at him for a long second, confusion written on her features before she finally took it.  
  
"Let's get out of here," he said as he helped her up.  
  
Celes nodded slowly. "Lead the way."  
  
Their escape was easy enough. Locke almost felt like it was too easy. Surely, there should be more guards around to keep an eye on a magitek traitor. Maybe he'd taken out most of them on his way in. He hoped that was all it was.  
  
They camped out in Figaro Cave before making their way to Narshe. Locke was a light sleeper and he kept an eye on Celes as best he could. She was still from the empire after all, but she didn’t seem to move all night. She just sat by the fire, staring at the names on her wrists. Locke didn't really see the point in looking at names that you already knew by heart. She hadn’t asked his opinion though. Anyway, when he woke up, he was still alive and she was still there and that was all that was important to him.

* * *

Celes couldn't sleep. Somehow, she was alive, despite everything that Kefka had done to ensure the contrary. He'd visited her once when she'd been locked up. She'd spat at his feet, expressing all the hatred she could while locked in chains.

He'd laughed at her. That was nothing new, but it still sent shivers down her spine. She wished it didn’t. "You used to be so glad to see me, Celes dear," he'd told her.   
"Are you only here to gloat?" She'd asked.   
  
"Tut, tut, tut. I'd think that someone awaiting execution would be a bit more polite."  
  
"I'm not awaiting execution. I'm awaiting transport back to Vector, for my trial." At least she’d thought so until she saw the self-satisfaction dripping from Kefka’s smile.. "Aren't I?"  
  
He shook his head smugly. "Oh no, there's no need for a trial when you're guilt is so plain. You see, the emperor trusts my judgment. It's so much simpler to have the blood flow here, rather than in the capital."  
  
"There's a scandal that you want to avoid, isn't there?" Celes asked, things suddenly becoming clearer.  
  
"My dear Celes, you've stumbled into things that are much too deep for you. It's such a shame. I quite liked you at one point."  
  
The way he spoke about her made her skin crawl. "I'm glad to say I never felt the same about you." It was a lie but she wasn’t about to admit the truth to him. Not when she was like this.  
  
"Uwee hee hee. Foolish girl." With a cackle and a flourish, Kefka flounced out of her cell, leaving Celes with a rotten taste in her mouth.  
  
She'd thought that that would be the last time she ever saw him. It came as a relief to some extent. But now, by the strangest series of events, she was free. Free to chase him down and make him pay for all the pointless lives he'd taken if she so chose. And then there was the matter of Locke, of the fact that his was the name on her wrist but that he showed no signs that her’s might be on his. Yet, it was, wouldn't he judge her his enemy, leaving her to die instead of freeing her? There was just so much that she didn't understand.

She still didn't know what to think on the road to Narshe. Locke clearly trusted her not to stab him in the back as they battle fiends side by side, but did he trust that she was not a spy? He didn't ask about how she’d ended up in that cell. He didn't ask anything at all. 

Celes found herself wondering for the hundredth time just what had motivated him to free her, let alone bring her along with him. 

* * *

Locke pretended not to notice the way that allies looked at him like he was crazy when he introduced Celes to them. Yes, he knew what it looked like, but he trusted her. Yes, it seemed irrational, but he did. Not that there was much time to dwell on it before the empire attacked with Kefka at their lead. Just seeing the man made his blood boil.

They fought. Celes fought harder than any of them, like a woman possessed. He noticed her hesitating just a little before striking the common soldiers but when they were up against Kefka she didn’t hold back. No one questioned her loyalty after that, at least not out loud.

In the end, Kefka ran away like the scum he was and any thought of him was driven from his mind when Terra transformed into a magical something and flew away. He was the first to volunteer to go after her. He couldn't just let her disappear like that, not when he'd vowed to not let her be alone.

Celes was the second. Then Sabin and Figaro. The rest stayed behind. They made a motley team. A treasure hunter, an imperial traitor, a king, and his prodigal brother. They stayed the night at Figaro, planning to head for Kholingen in the morning.. 

Locke couldn't sleep. From the array of empty beds around him, no one else could either, not after everything that had happened. The room was too stuffy. He needed some fresh air. When he got outside, Celes was already there, leaning against a wall and staring off into the desert. Locke turned to leave but before he could, Celes addressed him.

"Why did you speak up for me?" She asked looking at him with piercing blue eyes. Why did they have to be blue? Rachel’s eyes were blue. "You barely know me. The others have a point. I could just be here to stab you in the back."

Locke shrugged. "I trust you."

"But you have no reason to."

Locke walked over to next you and stared up at the stars. "You fought by my side when you could've betrayed me then." He shrugged. "Plus, I just have this feeling, it's hard to describe."

Celes was silent next to him for a long moment. “Thank you,” she said at last.

“You’re welcome.”

Locke wasn’t sure how long they stood there, staring at the stars, hiding from the world in a way. After a while, Celes yawned.

“I should get some rest before tomorrow.” She paused at the top of the stairs. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Locke said, without tearing his eyes away from the stars above. Rachel had loved the stars.

* * *

Locke had said that he trusted her. Celes couldn’t get that out of her mind. He didn’t have a reason to and yet he had. She pondered that fact as King Edgar transformed his castle into a ship of some sort and burrowed through the ground with it to the other side of the continent. Trust was something that had to be earned and he had just given it away. She wasn’t sure if she entirely trusted him and he had saved her life. She had to try at least, she decided as the castle surfaced, she had to try to trust him and to be worthy of his trust.

They found Terra in Zozo - a town filled to the brim with criminals - under the care of an on old man.

The old man - Ramuh - told them that Terra was an esper or at least part of one. He told them that he was an esper too and that the empire had captured and experimented on their kind. The details he shared made Celes sick to her stomach. She had been part of it. The reason she had magic in her was that one of those beings had died.

The empire was terrible. Why had it taken so long for her to see that?

Ramuh told them that if they could save the trapped Espers then one of them might be able to help Terra. Even if he hadn’t said that Celes was sure that they would’ve tried to do something anyway. How could any of them stand by when such evil was being committed?

Before they left, Ramuh turned into a stone - a piece of Magicite. She could feel the power radiating off of it. She was attracted and repulsed by it in equal parts. She wanted to reach out and take it. The very thought of touching it made her feel sick. 

They all stared at it for a long time before Edgar finally picked it up.

* * *

They were back in Figaro Castle before Locke finally let himself acknowledge what they had discovered. Terra, an Esper? It was too crazy to think about. She was just a girl - a girl who could use magic, but still. It didn’t sound real.

“We’ll need to split up,” Edgar said once everyone had gathered together. “As much as I can’t fail to help a fair lady in need, Narshe needs our help too. Some of us need to go there to bolster their defenses.”

Locke nodded. So did everyone else. If Narshe fell to the empire, well, it’d be another loss in a war that hadn’t been going their way lately. 

“I’ll go to the empire,” Celes said, stepping forward. “I know it best. That way you can help Narshe.”

Everyone turned to look at her, surprised. It was the first she’d spoken since they’d left Zozo.

“But, alone?” Sabin asked. “That’s just asking to get killed.”

“This… this is what needs to be done.” There was a cold determination in Celes’ eyes. Not for the first time, Locke saw the imperial general in the woman he’d rescued. “And it’s something I can do. Something I need to do.”

Locke stood up. “That doesn’t mean you need to do it alone. I’m coming too.” He grinned. “If you’re sneaking into the empire, you’re probably going to need a thief on your side.”

“I will come as well,” Cyan said, stepping forward, his hand on his sword. “I have scores of my own to settle.”

“Excellent,” Edgar said cutting off the objections clearly written on Celes’ face. “The rest of us will go to Narshe then.”

Sabin nodded, though Locke could hear him muttering under his breath about wanting to bash in some imperial heads as well. And Gau - well, Gau seemed amiable enough to the plan.

Celes cornered him later, while everyone was preparing. “Why are you coming?” The air felt a few degrees cooler. “The empire’s dangerous. Why won’t you just let me go alone?”

Locke shrugged. _Because part of me can’t watch you walk to your death._ **“** I’m a treasure hunter. There’s bound to be something worth stealing in there.” _The name on my wrist._ “Besides, the returners have each other’s backs. We don’t do things alone.” And then he left before she could press further, forcing him deeper into memories he’d rather forget.

* * *

Celes tossed and turned in her bed. Tomorrow, she would be returning to the empire. To the place that had raised her, that had done so much evil, and that she had left behind. This was something that she had to do. To make up for the fact that she had been a part of it at all. Because if she could help Terra, maybe it would make up for the fact that an esper had been killed to give her magic.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Kefka’s face and heard his terrible laugh echoing in his ears. She saw espers huddled in the tubes in Cid’s laboratories, looking frail, frightened, and afraid. She couldn’t sleep, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. It had been so long since she’d slept - really slept, not just collapsed from exhaustion. And since she couldn’t sleep, she went out to go train, running through sword drills until her body was too worn out to continue. That was when she saw Locke.

He was sneaking out of the castle towards the chocobo stables. Celes hesitated for only a second before following him. 

Locke turned quickly when she entered the stables, a chocobo’s bridle held in one hand and a drawn dagger in the other. Celes stepped forward slowly, her hands held up. 

“What are you doing here?” Locke hissed, lowering the dagger slightly when he saw it was her. 

“I could ask the same of you. You’re the one sneaking out at night.”

“Look,” Locke said. “There’s… something I need to take care of. I’ll be back by morning so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Celes recognized the look in Locke’s eyes as he said that. It was the look she’d had when she’d stepped forward earlier that day, volunteering to venture into the heart of the empire. “I’ll come with you,” she said.

Locke shook his head. “No. This isn’t anything you need to be involved with.” He sheathed his dagger and turned his back on her. “Just go back to sleep.”

“But you said that Returners don’t do things alone.” 

Locke started to say something but then he just sighed. “Fine. Just, don’t ask too many questions.”

Celes nodded. “I won’t.”

Their chocobos ran through desert sands, moving faster than any of the monsters that might try and stop them. Celes found that she had missed this feeling of freedom, of the wind blowing on her face and the ground moving past below her feet at an incredible pace. It had been forever since she had felt this alive.

They stopped outside the town of Kohlingen. Locke slipped down from his chocobo and began to lead it through the streets of the town with a ghost-like silence. Celes did her best to follow his lead, though with less stealth. Her specialties lay in different areas. They stopped in front of a run-down old house on the outskirts of the town, Locke looping his chocobo’s reigns around a fence post before walking through the door. Celes briefly wondered if she was becoming part of a robbery before following him in.

The house smelled strange. Bottles, herbs, and other strange ingredients were piled on every spare surface and filled the shelves that covered every wall of the room. An old man was sleeping soundly, on a bed tucked in a corner. Locke ignored everything, opening a trapdoor in the corner and climbing down the ladder.

There wasn’t much in the basement: a few torches that Locke lit, a chair, a couple of barrels, and, in the center of the room, a girl sleeping serenely on an elaborately decorated bed. The longer Celes looked a the girl, the more strange she seemed until at last, she realized that she was not sleeping at all. She was dead.

Locke walked forward slowly, brushing a strand of hair out of the dead girl’s face and kissing her gently. Celes looked away. This was something that she shouldn’t be seeing, an intimacy she wasn’t privy to. When she looked back, she could see that he had taken his hand in hers. Part of her noticed that the scarf he kept wrapped around his wrist was gone, but she barely saw that compared to the script on the dead girl’s wrist -  _ Locke _ .

“Her name is Rachel,” Locke said once they’d stepped back outside. The cool night air was welcome after the stifling closeness of the house. “She is- was my soulmate. She was killed by the empire.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Celes said softly, not entirely sure what she was apologizing for. She didn’t remember attacking Kohlingen, but she had done so very many things as part of the empire. More than ever, she could feel Locke’s name on her wrist.

“I’m going to find a way to save her.” He sounded so determined, so confident. “There’s got to be a way.” He grabbed his chocobo’s reigns and began to walk. “Come on,” he said, “We should get moving.”  
  
Celes nodded mutely, grabbing her own chocobo and following after him. How could she have been so foolish? The thought filled her head as they raced back across the desert, the stars and moon still shining down on them. How could she have been so foolish to think that there was something special between them? He had saved her and she had thought that there might’ve been more to it than simply pity. How could she have been so blind to the truth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I updated the planned number of chapters. That is because I have entirely too much to write about these two. But, hey, they're finally both on-screen at the same time now.
> 
> Join me next chapter for a night at the Opera!


End file.
